That is a really good point. I almost completely agree with the book. It's almost as if the Spider-Man character seems like an odd choice to fit into the DKR mold, being that at the source, Spider-Man isn't a dark character. Yes, he's had dark moments, but his own mythology isn't nearly dark enough to warrant the story that surrounded DKR. The story itself is nicely written and, as you said, well drawn. The issue, I think, is that you're basically trying to fit a square piece in a triangle hole. While I was not aware there was a "DKR model," apparently the powers that be are proving its existence with this book.
I did enjoy the moments where "the mask" was like a separate entity, that it shielded Peter Parker from what was going on and allowed "Spider-Man" to take over, though really I think it can be argued that's just like Batman living in Wayne's psyche, calling Wayne weak and, in himself, a "mask." It's an interesting take, switching roles and making the hero the mask, and the true character the weak, uncertain figure, though I wonder if it couldn't be told in other ways that aren't very close to what Miller was doing.
I think also it could be an odd time for this to happen. DKR was a product of what was happening in comics at the time. It was around the time of the Alan Moore's and Neil Gaiman's. And I don't know if you're right about DKR "reinventing the wheel," because I don't think he needed to. The mythology for Batman was all still right there, at the core of the character. The character himself was there. And all the exploitations and room for elaboration and creative license were available, left in the wake of truly crappy stories despite being told with a very lucrative (creatively and financially) character.
This kind of story (yes, this is speculation, but we're all speculating on something with this book at this point) is nothing new. At the surface, it's just a reexamination of the character in a different setting with the odds against him. The only true difference I can see is that three significant women in his life are dead, instead of one. So we ask ourselves if it's really time for a story like this. Is this like DKR because it just looks and feels like it, or is it like DKR because the time calls for a dark Spider-Man story? Are we learning new things about Peter's character that couldn't and aren't being told in any other capacity? Are we seeing Peter Parker at his most desperate, but in a new and exciting (and hopefully, emotionally gripping) way? That will have to be left until issue four, because I won't presume this part this early on. Other things I have no problem with, but this is merely a question tossed out into the ether and waiting to be explored.
Although, I may venture to say "yes." You may notice in the scene when Peter Parker is revisited by "the mask," we're given a page of interactions between Peter Parker / Spider-Man and those who mattered most to him. What separates it from other usual stories is, we know Parker is old and has had time to consider his own responses to those requests or questions posed to him by said significant figures, and we also get a more cynical, desperate answer to those questions. Instead of being a supportive, loving nephew, we see Peter's response to Aunt May's comment that Peter is "her life," is something far less noble, in spite of his uncles tutelage regarding responsibility. "But I don't want to be your life," is his reply. Something a little more realistic from a boy of maybe fifteen, and less characteristic of the Peter Parker character we know in current continuity.
Or is he? Does it add another depth to the Peter Parker character to look at his relationship with Aunt May and think, maybe he harbors some deeper resentment toward her. We all know he loves her, but have we ever stopped to think that she thrust too much responsibility on him too early (even for a fifteen year old with spider powers), and stop the presses: he recognized that?
So the appearance of this book raises some interesting questions. Is it a DKR ripoff? Is it necessary in the tapestry of the comic book world, or even on a smaller level, the Spider-Man world? Do we need something to jar us enough to rethink the Spider-Man character? Is this done with Reign tastefully, or is it hackneyed? While I'm willing to say yes, it totally harbors obvious similarities to the much-coveted DKR, I'm not quite willing to say it is a "ripoff" or is unnecessary. Food for thought.
t: I hope he will strike back at the 'Sinner Six' and the thing formerly known as Doc Ock
